I’m selling my unique ‘marmite’ West Sussex house for £5m – do you love it or hate it?
Clinton Dall, father of four and former Grand Designs homeowner, is selling his newest unique property.
The Shards, in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, is on the market for £5 million through Savills.
‘The house is marmite. You either buy it or you don’t,’ said Mr. Dall, It’s Money.
The 62-year-old managing director of Dall Cleaning Services has been living at the Shards with his girlfriend since October 2022, when construction was completed.
Construction work on the pieces began in 2019 and Mr Dall admits the project is “an extreme build for an extreme house”.
Before founding Shards, Mr Dall was happily living in Pavello, West Sussex, where he appeared on TV show Grand Designs, hosted by Kevin McCloud, in 2015.
‘I move around a lot and always want to start a new project,’ Mr Dall said.
In 2019 it found land for the Shards on a former quarry site and was granted paragraph 80 special planning permission.
A house to be built in paragraph 80 in open countryside must be exceptional in every respect. It had to be an extreme house to get planning permission.
Clinton Dall sells his house, The Shards
“The Shards was built during Covid, so it was a challenging project,” Mr Dall said.
He added: ‘I completely redesigned the interior of the property myself. I chose black brick, black wood and glass.
‘It’s a very dynamic house to look at and live in. It’s like a James Bond style house. The dark kitchen is timeless and will not get old.’
The particles were intended to reduce Mr. Dall’s size, but this did not materialize either in terms of size or finances.
Mr. Dall is in the process of purchasing a plot of land in Kingswood to build a new, smaller, three-bedroom, single-storey bungalow. He’s already designed it all.
“There’s nothing I don’t like about the tracks and I’m going to miss it,” Mr Dall told This is Money.
The all-black property’s exterior features angular overlapping panels that resemble shards of glass and stone, inspired by the site’s previous use as a quarry.
Impressive: The Shards were built using a special planning permission in West Sussex
Highlights: The pieces span over 5,000 sq ft and black is a major feature on the property
Is there enough space? The Shards has a large open living room finished to a high standard
Dream: The person purchasing the piece can make the most of the swimming pool and its grounds
Connected: The home’s master bedroom overlooks the pool deck.
Luxury living: The Shards has six bathrooms and five bedrooms
Design: Each of the bedrooms is designed to make the most of the view.
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What really makes a home worth millions: bold design, unique features, or just location and prestige?
The house was designed by the architects to fit the topography of the site. It won the Eco Award and the Small Scale Housing Award as well as the Building Crafts Award at the Sussex Heritage Trust awards.
The five-bedroom property has six bathrooms and spans 5,080 square metres. The master bedroom opens to the pool terrace.
The entrance to the house is through a large glazed front door into a large reception hall, which leads to the main reception room, which is a large open-plan room on two sides. Lutron ambient lighting is used throughout the home through a zoned control system.
The Italian Modulnova kitchen is black and features handleless cabinets, molded worktops and an island with a Bora hob with a ‘hidden’ outlet.
There is a twin Gaggenau oven and warming drawer, a Gaggenau dishwasher, a full-size Miele freezer and a Bosch refrigerator. Next to the house there is also a walk-in wine store equipped with a Swisscave wine refrigerator and custom-made shelving.
The house is located on approximately two acres of land and has a swimming pool.
According to Savills, it has ‘high levels of insulation, significant thermal mass, air source heat pump and brown roof systems designed to promote biodiversity and manage water reduction’.
